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Friday, October 25, 2013

Top 5 Reasons Why Mormons are Drawn to Dr. Who

November marks 50th years since the original
episodes of the time traveling show Dr. Who premiered in the United Kingdom.
Though it did stop for a while, it has returned in a modernized version of the
series that is still going strong. The
secret is having a main character who can regenerate after he is fatally
wounded and comes back looking completely different. If one actor is done with
the role, another one can pick it right back up.

Since moving to Utah, I’ve found that many of my LDS friends
were huge fans of the show. I hadn’t watched a single of the hundreds of
episodes, and I actually started with the newer version. It took a season or
two, but now I’m a card-carrying “Whovian.”

As I’ve watched the series, I thought “This is a pretty
great series for LDS families.” And I think there are many reasons for that, so
here are my top 5.

1. It can be suspenseful and scary without resorting to
buckets of gore and dismembered limbs. (They can even make giant pepper shakers
with plungers sticking out of them seem scary)

2. You can dress up as a different Doctor for Halloween for
13 years (and counting)using stuff you
can probably find at D.I.

3. They keep the
language to a pretty PG level. (Though I don’t understand all of their British
expressions.)

4. The Doctor always tries to solve his problems
non-violently, tackling things with no more than a (sonic) screwdriver.

5. We always sing
about if we could hie to Kolob. He could probably actually do it. In fact, he
goes many places and times, so that the show is an interesting blend of science
fiction and historical fiction. You
might actually learn something!

If you want to celebrate 50 years of the doctor, the BBC is
broadcasting a special 50th anniversary episode in November, even
going so far as to showing it in some movie theaters. You can find the closest
one to where you live here: http://bbc.in/NorthAmericaCinemasTDOTD

If you are just getting started, you can watch Dr. Who on
Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.